Easier to Lie
by PiManWillSaveUs
Summary: Terry would do anything for Don, even break his heart.
1. Chapter 1

_Easier to Lie -Chapter 1_

Summary: Terry would do anything for Don, even break his heart.

Who: Don and Terry (sort of). I'm a big fan of them together, but this isn't fluff. Be warned.

What: Romance/Drama/Angst

When: Terry and Don are together. Pick your favorite story that got them together: this is set after that happened.

Where: LA. Duh.

Why: Just for fun.

Disclaimer: Even though I am almost positive that anyone who could sue me does not spend their free time going through thousands of Numb3rs fanfics, making sure that no one thinks they own the show and does something stupid that would be bad for the network, here it goes: I don't own Numb3rs.

Here we go:

Ugh. Terry slumped down on her desk in defeat, after finally finishing all the paperwork at the end of a huge case. Everyone in the office had been doing twice the amount of work possible for any normal human being ever since Merrick had been alluding to cutting back lately.

"Terry!" came a shout from down the hall.

Oh no. Terry didn't even have to turn around and see Merrick's face to know what was coming. But she did, and saw her boss sauntering down the hall, eyes intently locked on Terry's chest.

"So you never got back to me about dinner…" he said, with an almost undetectable provocative undertone. Almost, but not quite.

"Yea, um, well, I just don't think it's such a good idea…" Terry responded, "Plus I'm really busy," she added quickly. Even though she knew what he was doing wasn't appropriate, she wanted to keep her job. And that meant keeping this man happy.

"That's too bad, Terry, really, too bad. I would love to talk to you about reassigning the Baxter case…"

Shit. He knew that was the one case Terry had been dying for. There was a fairly awkward pause, as she pretended to be very interested in her computer screen. "Oh, the Baxter case...well…um…I guess maybe we could have dinner sometime to talk it over. How about we go to Joseph's tonight?" Joseph's was close to the office, not fancy, and fast. The last place anyone would see their meal as a date.

"Mmmm, no, I don't think so. I was thinking of something a little more…fun," he said, as he reached out and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Shivers slid down Terry's spine. But she wanted this case. Bad. And one dinner wasn't going to hurt anything. Plus, if he tried anything funny on her, she was sure she could take him in a fight. She was stronger than any of the boys in the office.

"Fine," said Terry reluctantly, "how about 6:30 on Friday?"

"8:30."

"7:00."

"7:30"

There was a pause.

"Fine." Said Terry, "I'll meet you at the office and we'll go from here." She picked up her jacket and left before he could insist that he pick her up.

Dun dun dun. More to come, but not till after finals. I don't think I have to ask you to review...


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, finals aren't over, I was just too tempted. And I forgot to do this the first time:

Thank you thank you THANK YOU Michnap, for editing and get me into this. And being, like, my bff, (Jill). And the car, of course.

It was 7:25 and Terry was pissed. Pissed that she, against all of here feminist beliefs, was being exploited by some perverted man for a date, pissed that this was the way she was getting the case she wanted, not because of her qualifications, and pissed because she had to break a date with Don to go and spend two hours with her boss. BLECH.

She pulled up to the FBI building ten minuets later. Merrick was leaning against his car, in a suit, trying to look cool. It didn't work.

Terry went to open the door of his convertible (again, he was trying to be cool, but Terry saw the Hertz tag on the window). But he beat her to it, opened the door and let her slide in.

She had specifically not changed out of her work cloths this evening, and she had also specifically put on a turtleneck this morning. She wasn't nervous: she could kill this guy if she wanted to, no matter what she was wearing, but she just wanted to remind him that this was a work dinner. Nothing else.

So they got there, ate, talked mostly about work and the Baxter case, and although it seemed like he was trying to veer off into more personal conversation, Terry didn't let that happen. Even though this…thing had not turned into a complete disaster, by the time dessert was over, she wanted out.

"Well, Terry, I had a fantastic time." He said when they were outside the restaurant.

"Yea…um…this was good. I'm glad we got a chance to talk about the case. I really hope you'll consider the team I'm on if you reassign it."

"Well actually, I have the papers back at my apartment. Let's go back there now, and if you convince me," he broke into a small smile, "I could do it all tonight."

O. K. That was far enough for Terry. She had tried to convince herself that it had all been innocent. First the subtle looks and winks in the hallway, then the constant pestering to go to coffee…and now dinner. She had pushed it out of her mind. But this had gone to far. She was getting out.

"No, sorry Mr. Merrick…"

"Please, call me Patrick"

"….Mr. Merrick. I have to get home, early day tomorrow. I'll see you at work in the morning."

And before he could say another word, she was down the street, in a cab, and gone.

Dun dun dun. Keep reading, reviewing, blablabla. Even though it may be slow, there's more to come, keep checking.


	3. Chapter 3

Ok so when I transferred my files from my school computer at the end of the year something went wrong and I lost all my work on this story, and I pretty much gave up. But I have the entire story planned out, so what the hell, I'll try to start again.

"Hey, Terry, babe, you ok?" came a familiar voice from the back of her mind. "Terry, Terry? You asleep?"

Terry shot up from her uncomfortable position on her desk and punched the man who was leaning over her in the face.

Don stumbled backwards and held his face in his hand "Ugh, God, sorry Terry, I just thought that maybe you wouldn't want to let your boss see that you were sleeping on the job. I know better for next time."

"Oh, oh God, Don, I'm so sorry, I thought you were…"

Don looked at her, holding his nose, waiting for the end of her sentence.

"Never mind, its…nothing. Its nothing." She shot him a smile and kissed him on the cheek. "Sorry babe."

Obviously satisfied, Don continued on his way, slowly rubbing where his girlfriend had just punched him.

Terry sighed and put her head in her hands. She had gotten no sleep the night before; her mind was too caught up in her…date (Shudder) with Merrick. She tried to distract herself, think about something else, like her favorite TV show, or what was going to happen in the next Harry Potter book. But her thoughts always returned to work. Every time she thought about Merrick, the date, what could happen if anyone found out…her mind raced, her body tensed up, she got anxious shivers, she was suddenly covered in a cold sweat, and it took her forever to calm down. And that had been the downwards spiral of the first four hours of her night, until finally she had to get out of bed at three, coming to the final decision that she was going to report sexual harassment in the morning. Don never had to know. For the time being, she just had to pray that large amounts of coffee would get her through the day

Terry tried to compose herself, and slowly began to finish the papers on her desk, reminding herself over and over that she had scheduled a meeting with Merrick's boss. He wasn't going to get away with this. Mindlessly doing paperwork, along with the idea of Merrick getting what he deserves put her in a better mood.

"Terry!" Came a shout from down the hall. She shot up and was just about to punch someone again when she saw that it was David and relaxed.

"Oh, hey David, what is it?"

"Terry, you ok?"

"I'm fine. What is it?'

"Oh, um…Merrick wanted to see you. In his office."

"Now?" She snapped back.

"Um…well…I think so…"

Terry sighed. She thanked her colleague, got up, and slowly made her way to her boss's office.

She knocked on the door and a polite "come in" ushered her into Merrick's dark office. He looked up at her from his desk, took off his glasses, and smiled at her. A real smile, not the sort of "come hither" crap she had become used to from him for the past few weeks. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad…

"Terry! Good to see you. Please sit down"

Terry closed the door behind her and took the seat he offered. Her mind and heart were racing. 'ok, ok, ok, this is ok, terry, this is ok. Maybe he just wants to reassign you the Baxter case. It'll be ok. Its going to be ok, ok, ok, just to reassign a case…"

"So Terry," he began, in a very professional voice, "I would like to talk to you about last night"

Shit.

"I'm afraid you may have felt a little threatened. I'm sorry that you felt that way. I wanted to tell you that you should feel safe with me…"

Terry was starting to get that feeling again…

"… and to ask you to keep this," he smiled wickedly, "our little secret."

Terry was freaking out again, like the way she had felt the night before. But she wasn't going to let this pervert get the better of her. She steadied herself, and in a surprisingly, even to her, calm voice, responded, "I don't think I can do that Mr. Merrick."

Merrick looked rather like he had been hit by a very large stick. But he quickly pulled himself together and got up from his seat. He went around his desk and leaned on the edge, and getting closer the Terry, gave her a smile. Not a polite smile, and not a come hither smile either. A smile like you would see on the villain when he knows he's won. Terry would very much have liked to punch him, but she figured that since she had already hit one of her bosses that day, two would be overkill.

"Terry, I know how you feel. I know that you have set up a meeting with Pat Dognaton. But I know you know about the current employment situation here. And that I have a final say in who stays and who goes."

"My dignity over my job any day." Terry replied with more confidence then she was feeling.

Merrick chuckled a little bit. "oh Terry, it's not _you're_ job I'm talking about."

Terry followed his eyes out the window to the person he was referring to.

Don.


End file.
